STOCKTON - Producers and camera crews from "Cops," one of America's longest-running television shows, finished filming in Stockton on Friday after spending eight weeks on patrol with police officers.

Crews spent hundreds of hours with Stockton Police Department patrol officers and members of the Community Response Team taping segments for the fall season of "Cops."

Producers have selected eight stories to air as seven-minute segments on episodes throughout the season, which is set to begin Sept. 14. The documentary program debuted in 1989. It will move to the Spike network in the fall after 25 seasons on Fox, but it will retain its 8 p.m. time slot on Saturdays, producer Zach Ragsdale said.

"This is the first time we've filmed here in 25 seasons of 'Cops,' and it's always interesting to see new places," said Ragsdale, who has been with the show since 1998. "If you live in Florida, it's interesting to see how police work is done in California. You have different accents, different looks, and it gives the viewer a good variety of stories."

Frankie Gunnell, in his third season as a "Cops" producer and cameraman, said he filmed a number of interesting stories in Stockton, including one that captured a rare and unusual domestic disturbance involving an elderly couple.

"I really enjoy stories that are different," Gunnell said. "You don't see a lot of domestic disputes between really old people, but one of the stories I encountered here was a 70-year-old man who was being accused of getting in a fight with his girlfriend because he tried to flush her dead husband's ashes down the toilet. That's not something I've ever encountered before."

Ragsdale described a couple of other stories that will air on fall episodes. One involved a burglar who was apprehended when a police dog pulled him out of a tree. Another involved a man who was stopped by police following a hapless attempt to flee on a bicycle.

Officer Joe Silva, a spokesman for the Stockton Police Department, said patrol officers and Community Response Team members enjoyed working with "Cops" crews.

"It's been a very positive experience, and it has definitely boosted morale within our department," Silva said. "Officers are able to showcase what they do at work every day, which will ultimately be played on TV for the entire nation to see."

Ragsdale said one of the keys to the show's success and longevity is the raw, real nature of each segment.

"None of it is staged," he said. "Everything is real. We're considered reality TV, but when you compare us to all the shows that call themselves reality TV, they're not, and we are. Most shows are scripted and staged. There's nothing about our show that's any of that. It is true reality. I would almost call our show more of a documentary, because we just document what happens."

Ragsdale said he welcomes the move to Spike and believes the network will provide a good home for the show, adding, "It'll still be the same 'Cops' television show that people have come to know over the last 24 years or so.

"I think this will be a good thing for us," Ragsdale said. "We've been with Fox for so many years that they didn't promote the show and didn't do anything for the show. We were a staple of Saturday night, but they chose to move Saturday nights toward more sports programs. We were pre-empted a lot, so we decided to part ways. Spike had shown interest a couple years ago, so we contacted them, and now we'll be on the Spike network."